Coaster: step back in time in an idyllic Cornish cove

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It always strikes me as strange, the way we rhapsodise over artefacts of the Industrial Revolution as if they were quaint, fossilised parts of the natural landscape rather than unwelcome smokestacks of commerce. For example, when they first arrived, someone must surely have objected to tin mines? Now, though, their remnants along the Penwith coastline appear regularly in collections of iconic images of Cornwall: such is the metamorphic power of time.

On a recent visit to Penberth Cove I found myself looking at another vestige of the 19th century. The black capstan sits squat and proud at the head of